San Mai Knife (Student Project)

Designer: Zach Pater
Project Type: Student Project
School: UW-Stout
Course: Product and Packaging Graphics
Tutor: Nagesh Shinde
Location: Menomonie, United States
Packaging Contents: Japanese cooking knives
Packaging Materials: Tagboard, acrylic, textured paper, foam, knives.

San Mai Knife is a bilingual package designed to communicate and display the elegance and sophistication of Japanese cutlery. Each of the three knives are forged and crafted for their individual purposes, whether to slice through meat, chop vegetables or small delicate work.

The name “San Mai” comes from the form of forgery of these specific Japanese knives. In short, the process consists of crafting the blades from three layers of steel. “San Mai” is roughly translated into “three flat things” in the English language which is carried out through the branding and package design of the blades.

Typical knife packaging tends to be completely under-designed, or with no design whatsoever. San Mai Knife displays many intricate layers throughout the packaging to show the elegance and craft that goes into each blade. Japanese cutlery has been integrated within the culture since over 1,000 years ago. This premium line of Japanese cooking knives are used to prepare the most select delicacies of the Japanese culture. The packaging is to reflect and showcase the historic process of forging these specific blades.

What’s Unique?
Beyond using these blades for preparing the most select sushi delicacies, the packaging of the knives is meant to keep the knives in pristine condition, while also offering as an elegant display for these beautifully forged knives.